Collapsible plastic sheet container



Aprfi 11, E LQRDi 3,333,333

COLLAPSIBLE PLASTIC SHEET CONTAINER Filed Maya, 1965 g o 6 o 9 8 0 6 5 i O C O E O O O E E O O O E O O 5/ i @flg/O O p 5 Fm:

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United States Patent 3,313,333 COLLAPSIBLE PLASTIC SHEET CONTAINER Frank E. Lordi, Beaver, Pa., assignor to Koppel- Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 3, 1965, Ser. No. 452,613 3 Claims. (Cl. 150.5)

This invention relates generally to plastic containers and more specifically to a cylindrical collapsible plastic container which may be easily manually assembled and disassembled to allow lay-flat shipment or storage.

The shipment of goods from manufacturers to wholesalers or distributors requires the goods to be in containers which will protect the goods but still enable shipment at the lowest possible expense.

Cylindrical sheet plastic containers have been made by various molding processes or by plastic welding sheet at the seams. However, containers fabricated in this manner require considerable shipping space as well as storage space at the manufacturers and the users premises With collapsible containers, the user stores only sheets which can be assembled into containers as needed.

An object of this invention therefore is to provide a plastic sheet which can be conveniently assembled into a container and just as conveniently collapsed back into a sheet when desired.

The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will appear more fully from the following detailed description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are not intended as a definition of the invention but are for the purpose of illustration only.

In the drawings wherein like parts are marked alike:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a flexible plastic sheet before it is formed into a cylinder configuration;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the top of the cylindrical body formed from the plastic sheet of FIGURE 1; 7

FIGURE 3 is a view of a disc which is used as an end closure for the container of the invention; and

FIGURE 4 is an elevational view of the container of this invention, a section of the end closure cut away to expose the top interior portion of said container.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is shown a rectangular sheet of flexible plastic material 2 of the desired width and length to provide the desired height and diameter of the container. The sheet thickness, width and length will be governed by the use of the container. A typical plastic sheet which may be used is a 60 mil flexible plastic sheet extruded from Super Dylan polyethylene. Fastening means 4 are attached to both sides of the sheet. As illustrated in FIGURE 1 the fastening means may comprise a conventional plastic zipper. The zipper or other conventional fastening means may be attached to the sides of the sheet by suitable means such as sewing, stapling, riveting and the like. Other suitable fastening means, of course, comprise snaps, hinges, eyelets and the like.

Attached to the sheet 2 are locking strips 6 positioned near both ends of said sheet. Such strips are also cut from plastic sheeting and are secured to the sheet in a conventional manner. Positioned between each of the locking strips 6 and the ends of the sheet, are short strips of plastic material 8. These strips 8 are attached to the sheet a predetermined distance 9 from locking strips 6 and form a discontinuous locking strip. The distance 9 between the continuous locking strips 6 and the discontinuous locking strips formed from strips 8 is determined by the thickness of the closure to be used in the finished container.

When desired, strips 11 shown in FIGURE 1 are attached to the sheet between the strips 8 which form the discontinuous locking strip and the bottom of said sheet and are in alignment with strips 8. Strips I1 conveniently can extend beyond the bottom edge of said sheet. When the container is assembled, strips 11 constitute stacking strips to enable finished containers to be stacked atop one another, for by being attached to the inside diameter of finished cylindrical containers, the strips fit securely within the inside diameter of the top of a second container, upon which it is to rest. The stacking strips are of such length that they do not rest upon the lid of a container below, but, rather, the bottom edge of the upper container body rests upon the top edge of a lower container body. The stacking strips do not bear any Weight but merely keep the containers aligned with each other to prevent tipping of the upper containers. If desired, the strips may be of such length that they actually rest upon portion of the lower container.

To assemble the sheet into a container, the sheet, with strips 6 and 8 attached, is positioned to face the assembler, and the side edges of the flexible sheet 2, with fastening means 4 are brought towards the assembler and together. The fastening means 4 is then engaged to hold the sheet in a cylindrical configuration. The continuous locking strips 6 and discontinuous locking strips formed from strips 8 are inside the circumference of the cylinder thus formed, as shown in FIGURE 2.

The closure for the cylindrical tube is a plastic disc 10, as shown in FIGURE 3, which has been die cut to a predetermined size. Two discs are of course needed to completely close the container; one to serve as a bottom and the other to serve as a top for the container. Since the discs would have identical characteristics and would be secured in the same manner, the top disc only will be described. The diameter D of the disc 10 conforms with the interior diameter of the cylindrical sheet body where there are no strips attached. The outer circumference of disc 10 has depressions 14 of depth necessary to permit the disc, while in a horizontal plane, to be inserted into the top of a standing cylindrical body. This forms a smaller diameter, a. The depressions 14 in said disc are aligned with the short strips of material 8 that comprise the discontinuous locking strip to permit the insertion of the disc past said locking strips 8 so that the outer edges 12 of the disc rest upon the continuous locking strip 6. The disc 10 may contain apertures 16 which serve as finger holes to enable the container assembler to turn the disc while in its horizontal plane so that the outer edges 12 of the disc are frictionally secured between locking strip 6 and the strips 8 which form the discontinuous locking strip.

An elevational view of a completely assembled container, sections of the enclosure cut away to expose the top interior portion of the container is shown in FIGURE 4. If the container is to be used in transporting flowers or other perishables which require circulation of air to prevent spoilage thereof, apertures 18 are advantageously randomly dispersed throughout the sheet to accomplish such circulation.

While polyethylene has been indicated as a suitable sheet material for the purpose of forming the container of this invention, it is understood that any flexible conventional plastic material such as polystyrene, vinyls, or other polymers which can be extruded into sheet may be used.

It can easily be seen from the foregoing description that this invention provides a cylindrical sheet plastic container which can be collapsed, or disassembled to three pieces in a few seconds and can be shipped or stored in a flat condition, When the container is needed it is easily and swiftly assembled for use.

I claim:

1. A container comprising:

a single rectangular sheet of flexible plastic material,

fastening means disposed on opposite sides of said sheet for engagement with each other whereby a cylindrical body is formed from said sheet,

a pair of locking strips near the top of said sheet comprising a continuous locking strip and a discontinuous locking strip comprised of a plurality of strips, juxtaposed to and spaced a distance apart from said continuous locking strip, said discontinuous locking strip positioned between the top end of said sheet and said continuous locking strip,

a second pair of locking strips near the bottom of said sheet comprising a continuous locking strip and a discontinuous locking strip comprised of a plurality of strips juxtaposed to and spaced a distance apart from said continuous locking strip, said plurality of strips extending a short distance beyond the bottom edge of said sheet, and

discs slidably mounted between each of said parts of locking strips, the diameter of said discs corresponding to the interior diameter of said cylindrical body, the distance between said continuous and said discontinuous locking strips of each of said pairs corresponding to the thickness of said discs, said discs having indentations in their perimeters whereby said discs are inserted past said discontinuous locking strip of each of said pairs and turned to position the unindented portion of the perimeter of said discs between said continuous locking strips and sections of said discontinuous locking strips to secure said discs and form a top and bottom to said container.

2. A container comprising a single rectangular sheet of flexible plastic material, fastening means disposed on opposite sides of said sheet for engagement with each other to form a cylindrical body from said sheet, a pair of juxtaposed locking strips near an end of said sheet, and comprising a continuous locking strip and a discontinuous locking strip, said discontinuous locking strip com prised of a plurality of strips juxtaposed to and positioned between said continuous locking strip and the end of said sheet, said continuous locking strip and said discontinuous locking strip being spaced a distance apart, the disc adapted to be slidably mounted between said continuous and discontinuous locking strips, the diameter of said disc corresponding to the interior diameter of said cylindrical body, the distance between said continuous and discontinuous locking strip corresponding to the thickness of said disc, said disc having indentations in its perimeter so that the disc can be inserted past said discontinuous locking strip and turned to position the unindented portions of the perimeter of said disc between said continuous locking strip and sections of said discontinuous locking strip to secure said disc and from a closure for said container, and stacking strips attached to the sheet between the bottom edge of said sheet and the bottom locking strip, and aligned with said locking strip, said stacking strip extending a short distance beyond the bottom edge of said sheet.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein said rectangular sheet of flexible plastic material has apertures dispersed throughout said sheet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 549,043 10/ 1895 Worswick. 1,156,332 10/1915 Vaughn 229- 1,614,754 1/1927 Murphy et a1. 220 -40 2,751,952 6/1956 Mirus l.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 53,490 I/ 1934 Norway.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER COMPRISING: A SINGLE RECTANGULAR SHEET OF FLEXIBLE PLASTIC MATERIAL, FASTENING MEANS DISPOSED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID SHEET FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH EACH OTHER WHEREBY A CYLINDRICAL BODY IS FORMED FROM SAID SHEET, A PAIR OF LOCKING STRIPS NEAR THE TOP OF SAID SHEET COMPRISING A CONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP AND A DISCONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP COMPRISED OF A PLURALITY OF STRIPS, JUXTAPOSED TO AND SPACED A DISTANCE APART FROM SAID CONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP, SAID DISCONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP POSITIONED BETWEEN THE TOP END OF SAID SHEET AND SAID CONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP, A SECOND PAIR OF LOCKING STRIPS NEAR THE BOTTOM OF SAID SHEET COMPRISING A CONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP AND A DISCONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP COMPRISED OF A PLURALITY OF STRIPS JUXTAPOSED TO AND SPACED A DISTANCE APART FROM SAID CONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP, SAID PLURALITY OF STRIPS EXTENDING A SHORT DISTANCE BEYOND THE BOTTOM EDGE OF SAID SHEET, AND DISCS SLIDABLY MOUNTED BETWEEN EACH OF SAID PARTS OF LOCKING STRIPS, THE DIAMETER OF SAID DISCS CORRESPONDING TO THE INTERIOR DIAMETER OF SAID CYLINDRICAL BODY, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SAID CONTINUOUS AND SAID DISCONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIPS OF EACH OF SAID PAIRS CORRESPONDING TO THE THICKNESS OF SAID DISCS, SAID DISCS HAVING INDENTATIONS IN THEIR PERIMETERS WHEREBY SAID DISCS ARE INSERTED PAST SAID DISCONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIP OF EACH OF SAID PAIRS AND TURNED TO POSITION THE UNINDENTED PORTION OF THE PERIMETER OF SAID DISCS BETWEEN SAID CONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIPS AND SECTIONS OF SAID DISCONTINUOUS LOCKING STRIPS TO SECURE SAID DISCS AND FORM A TOP AND BOTTOM TO SAID CONTAINER. 